I wrote this article for elephant journal…yes, all lower caps. A great online zine devoted to personal and spiritual growth. It helped me connect the dots of my past to present, seeing how my early dreams are manifesting today.

The talk is titled Falling into Grace, about how a near death experience became an opportunity to grow in awareness and compassion. The TEDx speech could have been titled How I was an Idiot and Survived to Tell the Story or even I Love Being on Stage and Almost Died to Get There. Whatever confessional twist you put on it, I am so glad to be alive and to have learned from my experience. That story is worth telling.

This poem by the 18th century Chinese nun, Ziyong, provided the anchor for the faculty commencement speech I gave this year the Naropa University. I spoke about the lessons I learned from a climbing accident I barely survived in 1979. It taught me to look for the wisdom in every moment! Please check it out by clicking on: 12 minute speech

In gratitude,

Deborah

P.S. I took this photo at Wat Arun in Bangkok. He reminds me of the joy of living.